Cold today. Caught up on a bit of television, watched the Senior Bowl. Had a few delightful phone calls. Talked myself out of running. Then talked myself into it. And then out of it again. This might have had something to do with the patterns in the sky. There was the sun and then it would appear dreary. Then the sun came back and then more clouds. But, eventually, the sun would return.

Finally, we went to run. But it was colder and dreary again by then.

“I’m just going to run a mile,” I said, “as fast as I can and then see how I feel.”

So I ran, and then sprinted and then ran and then jogged and ran again. I did a mile in 7:09, which is probably the fastest mile I’ve done since high school — my fastest was 6:23, but that was decades and a few pounds ago.

How I felt at the end of it, today, was done. I spent 10 minutes on the floor trying to catch my breath after that little episode, though, and that should probably count against my time somehow.

Now, if I could just do that several times in succession.

Things to read … because you shouldn’t read just one thing, but quiet a few things.

I ran across a mention of Col. Maggie in a Longmire book while on vacation. I’d never heard of Martha Raye’s time in Vietnam, but that was my loss:

The story relates how Colonel Maggie, who was also a trained RN before going into the entertainment field, went to entertain and visit a very small Special Forces camp. (It could have been at Soc Trang, around the early part of 1967.) I was told that she and some clarinet player, had gone to the camp to entertain, but while they were there the NVA attacked the camp. Mortar rounds and small arms fire were incoming. It appeared that there was a full-scale assault on the base camp. It was uncertain if the camp would be able to hold off the assault.. The camp medic was hit, and so with her being a nurse, she took over and began to assist with the treatment of the wounded who kept pouring into the aid station.

The camp was in great danger for several hours of being over run. The higher-ups in the military were trying to dispatch helicopters to the camp, but a combination of very bad weather and heavy fighting made that task a very dangerous mission for any crews that would be trying to come in to get the wounded, or to pull her out to a safer place. All this time, she was subjecting herself to the dangers of flying shrapnel and incoming automatic rifle rounds. She tended to the task that she was trained for – treating the wounded. She was said to have remained calm and fully active in doing her work – even with all the action taking place just outside the aid station. She kept focused on treating the wounded and did not seek shelter or safety for herself.

She kept refusing any and all rescue missions. She spent hours putting her skills as a nurse, to use treating patients and even assisting with surgery. She was in the operating room for 13 hours; she then went through the aid station talking with the wounded and making sure that they were okay. It was said that she worked without sleep or rest, until all the wounded were either treated, or evacuated out on a Huey (helicopter). She did not leave that camp until she was satisfied that all wounded were taken care of.

If even parts of that are accurate … that’s an impressive tale.

Dumb: Twitter study shows Alabamians read at elementary school level. You could discuss the actual numbers involved, but let’s just stick with the basics. You could look at age, but they did not. You could look at the issue of self-reporting locales, but that isn’t addressed. And they gloss over the notion that people are often limited in their word selection by 140 characters.

Stop Doing Social Media Wrong, also, see above.

Aggregation is deep in journalism’s DNA:

First, the aggregators of today will be the original reporters of tomorrow. Those of us who care about good journalism shouldn’t dismiss the Buzzfeeds of the world because they aren’t creating high-quality reporting. Their search for new audiences will push them into original content production. Buzzfeed may be focused on cat videos and aggregation now, but disruption theory argues that content companies like it will move into the realm of the Huffington Post — which in turn, has already indicated its desire to compete more directly with The New York Times.

Second, and perhaps more important, is that despite the obituaries for quality journalism, we can take comfort in remembering that we’ve been here before. We need look no further than that same 1923 volume of Time magazine.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

The magazine previously known as “Illustrated” … Sports Illustrated lays off all staff photographers. This is being announced on economic grounds. They had six photographers left. So even if you cut salaries, travel budgets and benefits, that’s the margin the magazine is on:

He said that while the six are no longer staff photographers, that does not preclude them for continuing to shoot for the magazine if they so desire.

So I guess the next move will be utilizing freelancers and team photographers. Maybe they’ll seek out fan contributions.

Good stuff here: Nine podcasts for journalists

Vice Uses Virtual Reality to Immerse Viewers in News:

Long the purview of the gaming world, virtual reality represents a new frontier for journalism. News reports for years have borne witness to the events shaping the world. Now, directors and reporters are experimenting with virtual-reality technologies to essentially transport people into those events.

What can virtual reality headsets like Oculus Rift do for media?:

Nor does the technology for producing VR have to be particularly taxing for publishers and broadcasters. Use of the stereoscopic camera technology employed by Jaunt and others means that publishers can create immersive video for much cheaper than creating digital environments. It’s not VR in the sense of having an interactive world, instead being a 3D video, but it requires an HMD to deliver it all the same.

Journalists can also create more immersive experience with that tech. Simply by wearing stereoscopic recording equipment in interesting environments or while reporting on events as diverse as a gig or firefight, they can put their audience at the heart of the story they’re trying to tell. Consumer magazine Elle is already planning to broadcast live footage of a fashion show in VR.

Art pieces, too, like the Seeing i project in which artist Mark Farid will wear a VR headset and experience one person’s life for a solid month, hint at the new forms of content offered by VR headsets.

Here is Microsoft’s effort:

[slideshare id=43801402&doc=b215c2a2-1c5b-4707-9a92-fffca6fb82fe-150122231506-conversion-gate01-video]

That feels like a nice progressive step, no? Not the end goal tech, but an obvious step toward restructuring storytelling and consumption.

And, finally, a bit of good news from abroad: Officials Say Ebola Cases Are Falling In West Africa:

The number of people falling victim to the Ebola virus in West Africa has dropped to the lowest level in months, the World Health Organization said on Friday, but dwindling funds and a looming rainy season threaten to hamper efforts to control the disease.

More than 8,668 people have died in the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, which first surfaced in Guinea more than a year ago. But the three worst-affected countries — Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone — have now recorded falling numbers of new cases for four successive weeks, Dr. Bruce Aylward, the health organization’s assistant director general, told reporters in Geneva.

Given the dire projections WHO and others had been offering, these positive steps are welcome alternatives. The problem is a cyclical one in the poor areas where the epidemic routinely crops up. When the numbers dwindle, so does the support and money and medical assistance. Eventually it returns.